I have respect for Mr. Hunt's review and his love for the band. I think this is a great show, But I disagree about great shows being spotty after ‘77 and early ‘78. For myself, I think they were consistently blistering right up until late ‘82, rightfully taking into consideration the average ones and the clunkers. But I was just blown away in ‘81 by the Uptown shows and Market Square. '81 was wild! And ‘80 was jaw-dropping!

Kevin did a beautiful job on this matrix. Having Betty produce half of it makes all the dif with Evan being correct about the instrument separation and the brightness. And for an added bonus, Donna sounds good.

And Wow! Speaking of blistering: Bertha > Good Lovin' is crazy powerful right out of the box! It pulled me right out of my chair to dance. Truckin' is very good with a sweet WR. And one nice extra is having the ability to cleanly segue U.S. Blues from WR in music editing. Makes for an energetic 2nd set.

And oh yeah, did I say this was a killer matrix? Ah, well, yes I did! Along with Betty performing her usual magic to the board, Bob Wagner did a marvelous job of keeping his finger off the pause button. Cause you get the whole show from start to finish. And that is a big, big plus! You have no idea how appreciative I am, Mr. Wagner, that you were sparing of that. The only addition I needed to provide my finicky ol’ self with for the ultimate sound was some reverb for the board to match the softness of the crowd, making for a primo, DFC 20th row FOB substitute. I keep five stars for an above average - pre '83 - show and a great matrix. And this is one of them. This skirts "X" factor boys and girls. And yes, Evan, they are having a lot of fun!

This is an excellent matrix. With a blend of SBD and AUD it deftly supplies the missing lyrics of first set Jerry vocals and second set dropouts of Wharf Rat and Around and Around.

This was an amazing SBD for the era. There is considerable separation of the instruments which makes for a well-defined presence -- a delicious but indescribable ambience. Both drummers are prominent as is the keyboards and rhythm guitar -- the latter two often seemed lost in most live recordings of the latter half of the 70's, but not on this night.

Concerning the performance: A little sloppy at times but overall very spirited -- especially Jerry's roaring guitar AND vocals. How the man could alternate sing sweet lead with screaming vocals and sprinkle in his tasty fills and swirls on guitar is beyond description. In 60 years of listening to pop music I have heard nothing that has compared. Oh, there are technically finer guitarists and certainly there are better singers, but to me no one exhibits as much heart. The Wharf Rat delivered on this night was so poignant that you could sense the subject's unavoidable doom. He is singing that he'll get back on his feet someday but you know he won't. There is just no way he can. He has gone too far down the drain to be snatched from death.

What I believe sets this band apart from the rest is their marvelous ability to achieve breathtaking dynamics. When Jerry comes out of a superb triple guitar solo in Peggy-O the transition back into the verse is so subtle that the audience abstains from its typical reaction of applause and hooting. The result is the sweetest quiet interlude imaginable. The listener is sitting there on his couch with Jerry next to him on a chair in the living room.

Throughout the entire show the recording reveals numerous dynamic changes where the instrumentation is blasting one moment and then drops down to beautiful quietude for the lyric. For the most part the lyrics are so intelligible that you can hear subtle changes in enunciation -- a tremendous feat in rock and roll which is normally given to drowning lyrics with overblown instrumentation.

Speaking of instrumentation, like some reviewers mention in other reviews of this show, the piano often can seem like it's lost but it's not lost at all. It's really quite outfront harmonizing with the bass and rhythm guitar. What was captured on this night was a very lush sound of the keyboards. The electric piano is gloriously powerful and the grand piano has such a deep resonance that it surprises. Usually I don't pick up Keith's piano playing as well as I'd like, but on this night he was right there the whole time. Listening to this show gives me an entirely different impression of Keith's contribution to the band's sound. He was outstanding.

This reviewer has read thousands of these Archive reviews of GD Concerts and many reviewers have sited a good show as one that plays good versions of the songs they want to hear. But this show, like a number of others from 1977 and early 78 feature exciting renditions of the songs that many Dead fans don't care for, like Minglewood Blues and Peggy-O. The GD in this era were so hot and animated that they even made their clunkers like Me and My Uncle and Mexicali Blues sound great. Many listeners fault 1978 as being overly predictable and, indeed, that theory does hold water. They were predictable like when they would couple Bertha with Good Loving. However, some of these versions are so hot it really didn't matter what they played.

Like 1977,1978 was a year that had some memorably hot shows. The band was excited to hit the stage and you can hear it in their performances of those years. The evidence is plainly heard in those moments when Jerry gets so full of himself that he slops it out. I didn't mind this at all. I don't like performances that are carbon copies of the night before. I like a band that takes chances. 77 and 78 were my favorite years for this because the band appeared to be full of piss and vinegar. It seemed, after their two and a half year hiatus, that they couldn't wait to get onstage. I witnessed some of those shows and was blown away. However, it seemed like the luster wore off in the latter half of 1978 and the band never really re-captured that old time fire but here and there.

What I consider to be a great Grateful Dead show is one in which they sound like they are having a lot of fun.

This show I believe is one of the bands greatest. It was one such night in which they sounded like they were having a lot of fun.

Thanks to Kevin Tobin and all the others that lent a hand to put this show up on the Archives. It is a job well done and much appreciated.